Eric Crawford
General Information Eric Crawford was a Dranian politician, former long-time Chairman of the libertarian Grand National Party and former Prime Minister of Dranland. Life and Politics Crawford was born in the Welsh city of Porthladd Rhewi (Magadonia Province). After graduating from High School, he immediately started to work as a self-employed investment banker at the Dranish Stock Exchange. He started off by buying small amounts of shares of large corporations, and as his profit increased, he extended his share holdings. By 3275, he had earned a small fortune and subsequently started an own business, a law firm, where he employed 25 lawyers. In 3278, he ran for a seat in the Parliament for the libertarian Grand National Party , which he won easily. From 3275 to 3279, he also studied law at a private university, completing his studies in February 3279. Two months later, he would become Minister of Justice in the cabinet of Prime Minister Alina Delarosa. As minister, he mainly focused on internal and administrative issues within the area of justice, without launching large reforms or making a lot of public announcements. However, polls suggested that he was amongst the most popular cabinet members due to his competence and seriosity. This also strengthened his position within the GNP, which was seeking for a new leader after Gerardo Gutierrez had resigned. After the interim solution under Marit Jensson, Crawford was elected Chairman of the GNP unanimously in August 3283. In the elections of 3286, he managed to improve the GNP's result by 2% and made gains at a local level after having embraced fiscal conservatism during his campaign. After the elections, he renewed the GNP's coalition with the PGR and was subsequently sworn in as Prime Minister. The coalition then proceeded to work out a reform for the monarchy, which was based on an elective system for the position of Head of State, while still having a royal family. The reform could, however, not be finished before the end of the tenure. In 3290, Crawford enjoyed a re-election as the GNP became the largest party again and even slighlty improved its result. In the ensuing tenure, his cabinet completed the monarchy reform and established the elected position of Lord Chancellor as Head of State. Crawford was re-elected in 3294, his coalition winning a clear majority of seats in the Parliament again. He then reshuffled the cabinet and pulled his party, the GNP, further to the right, especially in the area of defence. Backed by him, Minister of Defence Lorenzo Allende put forward a bill which would allow the army to use nuclear weapons for every reason, re-privatize the defence industry and abolish all restrictions on the export of weaponry, which he believed would bring more revenue to Dranland's defence industry. However, the bill was rejected by a majority of MPs. In 3295, early elections were held to fill the vacant seats previously held by the collapsed PDM. Crawford enjoyed another re-election, however he saw his party's lead over the centre-left Unity party clipped significantly. In the following tenure, the government mostly defended the status quo by voting down bills by the leftist opposition. In April 3299, he announced that he would seek another term, however he also stated that this would definitely be his last. He was thus the longest-serving Prime Ministers since half a decade. After winning a majority again in the elections, his government abolished several welfare grants and ended subsidies fro pharmaceutical drugs and public transport. In February 3303, Crawford left the Chairmanship of the GNP to Finance Minister Mario Lavazza. With nearly 20 years in office, he was the by far longest-serving Chairman of the party. In November 3305, he also retreated as Prime Minister after reshuffling the cabinet and forming a three-way libertarian coalition. He remained an active MP for the following 26 years until he retired as MP in June 3331 due to health issues. His seat was taken over by former Head of State Charlene Goodwill. Crawford died from old age in his home town in May 3349, being 95 years old. Category:Dranian people Category:GNP leaders Category:Grand National Party (Dranland) politicians